М.б. просто использовать clone() ?
<div id="container" style = " border:2px solid black;">
<div class="test" style = "position:relative; border:1px solid red;">
<img src="https://javascript.ru/cat/list/donkey.gif"/>
<span>Text</span>
</div>
</div>
<script src="https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.12.4/jquery.min.js"></script>
<script>
$('.test').click(function() {
$(this).clone(true).appendTo('#container');
});
</script>
